from the root of "to wear" it can be real clothing, (a vest)or a figurative 'clothing' (with the power vested in me..) or you can be vested (in a pension plan) which just means your are invested (but you also get invested with power!)

you divest, or invest, be vested, or wear a vest..

(but if you are invested with spiritual power, (ie, a preist or minister) you don't get devested, you get defrocked! (so you get vested, but your vest is a frock.)

and i am sure vest has other nuances.. (like vestment, and investment)

there are some (in a small green part of the world) that mangle and misprononce words so effectively, that poor american visitors to their land thought there was a new name for a waistcoat. and so WESKIT came into being..

Dr bill had this to say about weskits: had an amusing experience the first timeI took ferry from Cape Tormentine to Borden on PEI.There was a safety poster in French, about 'gilets desauvettage'. With my best high-school French, I askedthe purser who looked French:'Qu'est que c'est un giletde sauvettage?' He snarled at me:'I don't speak French!'And shut his door before I could ask again in English.As I walked away, I suddenly had vision of an illustrationin a French language version of Alice in Wonderland, withthe White Rabbit wearing a bright red weskit.Suddenly it dawned on me: Weskit in French is 'gilet'.So 'gilets de sauvettage' were life jackets.

so anyone--is the word gilet related to the PIE(that's proto indo european, not PEI(Prince Edward Island--reputed to be the prettiest place on earth) word for clothing (to wear clothing?)

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